Technically speaking, within the ranks of Cosa Nostra, Marco Li Mandri formally held the rank of a soldier. Nothing more, nothing less. No law enforcement agency, whether they be a local police department or a federal agency like the FBI or the Federal Narcotics Bureau has ever claimed differently.
During all the years spent among his mafioso brethren in The Big Apple, he was considered a soldier operating under the supervision of a Family capo di decina. He was originally considered a soldier of the Salvatore D’Aquila Family. After D’Aquila’s murder, he then served under newly named “Representante” Francesco (Don Cheech) Scalici until he later abdicated power in favor of new boss Vincent Mangano.
By the time the notorious Albert Anastasia rose to prominence, Mimi had already left the East Coast for California. With his arrival to the West Coast, all indications are that he continued in his position as a soldier, only now, at a certain point in time, he transferred his membership to the Los Angeles-based Family then headed by boss Ignazio (Jack) Dragna.
But regardless of who he served under, it seems Li Mandri’s early days in New York were very well spent. By the mid-1940s-early-1950s, federal law enforcement agencies had determined that whatever nefarious activities Li Mandri was engaging in, he was apparently very successful at them.
